Finishing of fabrics



A. MELLOR ET AL FINISHINGOF FABRICS Oct. 8, 1935-- Filed May 13, 1951 mmv M. mmm m LAE 0 r n M y n T B LN AR Patented Oct. 8, 19 35 FINISHING FFABRICS Albert Mellor and Ralph James Mann, Spondon, near Derby,England, assignors to Celanese Corporatlon of America, a corporation ofDelaware Application May 13, 1931, Serial No. 537,006 I In Great BritainJuly 12, 1930 I1 Claims.

This invention relates to the finishing of fabrics, and in particular tothe drying and stretching of fabrics. r

Woven fabrics contract in width in securing,

; washing, and like processes and in ,order to restore them to theirwoven width, it is usual to subject them, after they have been more orless dried, to the stretching operation generally known as stentering.Thus the fabrics may be partially dried by passing them over a series ofsteam heated hollow drums, and then-passed to the stenteringmachine,where they are stretched to their original width.

The devices on the stentering machine for stretching the fabric usuallyconsist of two travelling rows of clips which grip the fabric at itsselvedges and pass along guides which cause the distance between the tworows of clips to increase, thereby pulling the fabric in the directionof its width.

In some cases it so happens that if the fabric is not wholly dried whenit passes oif the,heated rollers, pressure marks are made on theselvedges of the fabric by the clips of the travelling chains of thestentering machine. This is seen more particularly in fabricscontainingcellulose acetate, on which the clips leave glazed marksshould the selvedge of the fabrics not be thoroughly dry.

The object of the present invention is to anable fabrics, andparticularly fabrics made of or containing cellulose acetate or othercellulose derivatives, to pass through the above mentioned operationswithout there being any possibility of glazed clip marks being made onthe fabric.

According to the invention special provision is made for the drying ofthe fabric selvedges during the drying of the fabric on heated drums orlike devices, the selvedges being dried by the application of adryingatmosphere to the selvedges so that the stenter clips engage dry partsof the fabric when it proceeds from the drying drums or the like to thestentering machine.

The drying atmosphere to be directed on tothe selvedges may be drawnthrough a fan and passed through a heating device, being led thencethrough ducts to impinge on the selvedge. The two ducts may be suppliedfrom a single blower, or separate blowers may be provided to supply thedrying atmosphere to the two ducts. The 0 ducts may be shaped to followthe periphery of one or more drums, so that the selvedge drying iseffectively carried out with a low quantity of drying atmosphere. Thisatmosphere (usually ducts supplying heated atmosphere to the selvedgescan be moved across the width of the drying drums so as to accommodatevarious widths of fabric.

The invention will now be described in detail 5 with reference to theaccompanying drawing, but it isto be understood that this description isgiven by way of example only and is in no respect limitative.

Fig. ,1 is aside elevation in part section on the line l-l of Fig. 2 ofthefabric-dryingapparatus according to the invention g Fig. 2 isa frontelevation of the drying machine shown in 'Fig. l.

Afabric 3 is batched on a roller 4 and led from the roller4 to a seriesof steam heated drums 5 mounted on shafts 6 carried by a frame 1. Therate at which the drums rotate and the temperature to which they areraised is regulated so that the fabric-is not quite dried on leaving thedrums.

The selvedges 8, S of the fabric, however, are completely dried bydirecting a current of heated air on to each selvedge throughyaslot-like ori- I steam jacket 16 which is supplied with steam through apipe I! and valve l8. The steam, in heating the air passing through thechamber l5, condenses in the jacket l6 and is drained away by a drainIS. The air is supplied to the chamber l5 by means of a fan 20 drivenbyan electric motor 2|, the air entering the chamber by openings 22screened with wire gauze as shown in Fig. 2.

The whole assembly of duct ll, heater IS, IS, fan 20 and motor 2| isslidably mounted on carrier frame-work 23 having cross bars 24 extendingacross the width of the drums 5. In order that the selvedge-dryingdevices may be positioned in accordance with the width of the fabric 3being dried, a spindle 25 is provided in connection with each device,the screw threads of the spindle engaging a nut 26 on the fan and heaterassembly. A suitable wheel 21 is provided at each end of the machine forthe operationof the spindle 25 'whereby the fan and heater assembly ismoved along the carrier, running on 66 wheels 28 provided for thepurpose. The traverse of each nut 26 is limited by a stop 29 .whichforms an end bearing for each of the spindles 25.

The dried fabric is passed from the drums i to a stenter where the nowcompletely dried selvedges 8, 9 are gripped by the clips of a pair oftravelling chains which are guided away from each other to stretch thefabric to the required width.

The travelling chains are traversed along the races at a speedcorresponding to the speed at which the fabric 3 is passing over thedrums 5 of the drier. The fabric on being released by the clips isbatched on to another piece roller.

During stentering the fabric may be subjected to the action of a dryingor conditioning atmosphere.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is: v s

1. Drying apparatus for preparing damp fabric for engagement by theselvedge-gripping devices of a stentering machine comprising, incombination, drying drums over which the fabric is caused to pass andmeans for directing a drying atmosphere against the selvedges only ofthe fabric so as to complete the drying of said selvedges whilst theremainder of the fabric remains damp.

2. In fabric drying apparatus, the combination with drying drums aroundwhich the fabric is passed, of means for directing a narrow stream ofdrying atmosphere onto each of the selvedges of the fabric whereby whenthe fabric is discharged from the drying apparatus only the selvedges ofthe fabric are completely dried.

3. In fabric drying apparatus, the combination with drying drums aroundwhich the fabric is passed, of means shaped to follow the periphery ofat least one of said drying drums for directing a narrow stream ofdrying atmosphere onto each of the selvedges of the fabric.

4. In fabric drying apparatus, the combination with drying drums aroundwhich the fabric is passed, of means shaped to follow the peripheries ofa plurality of said drying drums for directing anarrow stream of dryingatmosphere onto each of the selvedges of the fabric.

5. In fabric drying apparatus, the combina tion with drying' drumsaround which the fabric is passed, of ducts shaped to follow theperiphery of at least one of said drying drums for directing anarrow'stream of drying atmosphere onto each vices of the stenteringmachine.

of the selvedges of the fabric and means for moving at least one of saidducts whereby said apparatus is enabled to accommodate fabrics ofdifferent widths.

6. Method of treating damp fabric, which com- 5 prises completely dryingthe selvedges only of the fabric and then passing the fabric to astentering machine, the drying of the selvedgespreventing damage to thefabric by the selvedgegripping devices of the stentering machine. 10 7.Method of treating damp fabric, which comprises completely drying theselvedges only of the fabric by directing a drying atmosphere againstthem, and then passing the fabric to a stentering machine, the drying ofthe selvedges preventing'us damage to the fabric by the selvedge-grlpp tde- 8. Method of treating damp fabric, which comprises partially dryingsaid fabric by ,the uniform V application of heat thereto and completelydry- 20 ing the selvedges only thereof and then passing the fabric toastentering machine, the drying of the selvedges preventing damage tothe fabric by the selvedge-gripping devices of the stentering machine.25

9. Method of treating damp fabric, which comprises partially drying saidfabric by the uniform application of heat thereto and completely dryingthe selvedges only thereof by the local application to them of a dryingatmosphere and 30 then passing the fabric to a stentering machine, thedrying of the selvedges preventing damage to the fabric by theselvedge-gripplng devices of the stentering machine. 7

10. Method of treating wet fabric containing 85 cellulose acetate, whichcomprises subjecting the fabric to a drying operation in which only theselvedges of the fabric are completely dried and then passing the fabricto a: stentering machine, the drying of the selvedges preventing damageto 40 the fabric by the selvedge-gripping devices of the stenteringmachine.

11. Method of treating wet fabric, which comprises subjecting the fabricto a drying operationydirecting a narrow stream ofdrying atmosphere onto the selvedges of said fabric so that the said selvedges onlyarecompletely dried and then passing the fabric to a stentering machine,the drying of the selvedges preventing damage to the fabric by theselvedge-gripping devices of the stentering machine. i

- ALBERT MELLOR.

RALPH JAMES MANN.

